Mount Washington Hotel & Resort Says Only It Can Offer Lodging Under The Name Mount Washington

from the mount-this dept

The Mount Washington Hotel & Resort is located in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, alongside (you guessed it) Mount Washington. But, apparently the operation, which has been around for a while, but which was taken over by new owners a few years back, is now sending cease and desist letters to other "lodging" businesses in the area who also use the Mount Washington name. Yes, despite taking the name themselves from the place where they are, they're now claiming that only they can use that name when it comes to lodging. The article is a little unclear, but it says they never registered a trademark on the name... but still say that the USPTO "has agreed with the company that there is a likelihood of confusion when it comes to other lodging properties that share the name." Of course, the fact that all these places have coexisted without problem for years certainly seems to suggest otherwise....

Ocean

I used to live in Ocean City, Maryland, a resort town. It sure seems like a good third of all businesses there have the word Ocean in their name. Using this logic, that would be to confusing for the average person to deal with.

It's nice to see that the Ghost of Richard Nixon remains alive and well.

But for my money, if people want to visit New Hampshire, they should stay at Thayer's Inn. Thayer's Inn isn't on taxpayer-funded National Park Service property. It's quite classy. Visit http://www.thayersinn.com for more info.

Re: Thayers

You are right!
And Thayers is a classy place, I've stayed there myself and I highly recommend it.
Vote with your pocketbook, If they want to play this game lets see how a 'downturn' in business affects them!

Alienate many long term owners lately?

Personally, I woud never stay at the Mt. Washington inn...we looked at it and chose the Inn at Ellis River instead. Nicer people all the way around. I would almost bet that the new owners of the Mt Washington Inn thought the fact that "The Shining" was filmed there (or so the old owners boasted) would be a crowd drawer (even though it isn't), and thought they should alienate every other inn owner in the area. It's too bad and I'm sure the other owners will now pull the pamplets advertising the tours at the Mt Washington Inn.

Mt Washington

Agreed, and I will add that I am most disturbed about the erosion of the concept of a trademark as something UNIQUELY identifying the holder!
I would be surprised and very disappointed to hear that the USPTO agreed with such flagrant abuse.